VIRTUAL: Jane Dracott at Hudson Library [4/15]

As part of the Hudson Library & Historical Society’s Egypt month, discover one of the most fascinating yet long-neglected rulers of the ancient world: Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra. On Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m. Roman historian and archaeologist Jane Draycott, who will discuss her new book, Cleopatra’s Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen, during a livestreaming event. 

*Note: this is a virtual event and you need to register to join. If you'd like to register, please click here.

Years ago, archaeologists excavating near Pompeii unearthed a hoard of Roman treasures, among them a bowl depicting a woman with thick, curly hair and sporting an elephant-scalp headdress. For decades, theories circulated about her identity—until, at last, she was ascertained to be Cleopatra Selene, the only surviving daughter of Roman Triumvir Marc Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII. Using this discovery as her starting point and creating a narrative from mere fragments in the archaeological record, historian Jane Draycott reconstructs the exceptional life of this woman who, although born into royalty and raised in her mother’s court, was held captive by Augustus Caesar and his sister, Octavia, after her parents’ demise. Yet, Cleopatra Selene was destined to emerge as an influential ruler in her own right, as queen, alongside King Juba II, of Mauretania, an ancient African kingdom. A long-overdue historical corrective, Cleopatra’s Daughter reclaims a mighty regent—and her infamous family—for posterity. 

Jane Draycott is a lecturer in ancient history at the University of Glasgow. A Roman historian and archaeologist, she has excavated sites ranging from Bronze Age villages to World War I trenches.